Eddie George’s NFL career ended and at last, he was stood up and knocked down. With the Tennessee Titans, he plowed through obstacles, but this time, George couldn’t get up.

Depression hit him, and hit him hard.

Eddie George (AP Photo)

With no games to prepare for, no touchdowns to run, no locker room within which to fraternize, George was at a loss.

“It never got to those depths where I wanted to end my life, but I can certainly understand how some guys get to that point,” George told The Tennessean. “There wasn’t that instant success on the football field, where you worked hard all week and you have a victory and a great game on Sunday. There were some things I had to go through that weren’t necessarily helping me and my family out.

“I can certainly see where guys who don’t have the proper guidance or right mindset can take that turn for the worst.”

George will discuss what he calls his “daily battle” on Showtime’s “60 Minutes Sports” Wednesday night.

George, a Heisman Trophy winner at Ohio State and one of the best running backs in the history of the NFL, began a broadcasting career after his football playing days ended. He was released after nine years with the Titans and then retired after one season with the Cowboys. Television was a job, sure, but it didn’t satiate his competitive spirit and his love of a pro player’s lifestyle, either.

The results, he admit, weren’t nice, as he jeopardized his marriage, friendships and mental health. He says he “had no idea what to do next” when football was over. He didn’t begin to turn it around until three or four years ago.

“I was fighting demons and trying to get a peace of mind that did damage to me and my family, my wife. … Hanging out and chasing (women) and all the wrong things," he told The Tennessean. "All the things that served me as a player didn’t serve me as a man who’s 35, 36, 37 years old trying to redefine himself. Something had to change in me.”

He added: “I didn’t have a chance to write my own ending, and that bothered me.”